Mayan land

(Best viewed in large format. Click on pictures to enlarge...)

"El castillo", the main pyramid in Chichen Itza

The Yucatan peninsula of Mexico is home to some of the most brilliant cities of the Mayans. During the golden-age, the "classic" (4th-9th centuries AD), the Mayans built cities in the jungle, developed a writing system, as well as a calendar based on complex astronomic observations, discovered the mathematical concept of "zero"... The fall of the Mayan "classic" civilisation at the end of the first millenium occured suddenly, and is still a relative mystery. Wars or ecological factors due to an over-use of the scarce resources are possible reasons.

"El caracol", which served as an astronomical observatory in Chichen Itza

The "post-classic" period (11th-16th centuries AD) was a time of relative renaissance. For instance the city of Chichen Itza reached its golden age in the post-classic period when it was re-built by Toltecs from Central Mexico. The latter brought with them the cult of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god.

Feathered serpent

Also, there were frequent human sacrifices in the Mayan world. All Meso-Americans indeed believed that the World follows cycles of birth/death/re-generation, and that therefore the gods need periodic human sacrifices to renew their vital energy.

There is more to see to Mayan Yucatan than Chichen Itza alone... For instance, the city of Coba is believed to have been the largest Mayan city in the North of the Yucatan peninsula during the classic period. The ruins have been relatively little explored.

"El cruce de caminos" pyramid in Coba is unusually shaped

Detail from a "ball game" ground in Coba, where the ritual "sport" usually resulting in the sacrifice of the losers was practiced

The post-classic city of Tulum was a harbour and a major trading place. Tulum is also believed to be one of the first Meso-American cities to have been seen by the Spaniards, in 1518.

According to Meso-American legends, Quetzalcoatl had left the ancestors' land after losing a battle. He fled towards the East on the Great Sea, but he would return one day from the sea to reclaim his kingdom. Some say that the Mayans, as they saw strange blonde men arriving from the Eastern Sea on their "wooden towers" floating on the water, fatally mistakened them for the armies of Quetzalcoatl and thus welcomed them as gods. Doom was around the corner...

Temple of the wind in Tulum

The Mayan cities of Yucatan are set amid thick jungle. The view from the pyramids can be quite breath-taking! As for Tulum, the temples and other buildings directly face the turquoise waters of the "Caribe Mexicano".